Injuries are apart of sports at all levels, but they are thrust into the national spotlight at the professional level.  Countless players who were once deemed as promising prospects and perennial All-Stars have had their careers severely altered after a major injury. It is always disappointing to see such talent be caged by something as frustrating as an injury, but it unfortunately is a part of the game that both players and coaches must plan and prepare for an injury that keeps them out of action for months.

Perhaps no one in the NBA in the past few years embodies a “what could have been” talent than current New York Knicks and former Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose.  Drafted first overall out of Memphis to his hometown Bulls, Rose was named Rookie of the Year and was also named to three All-Star teams in his first four NBA seasons.  Rose was undoubtedly the face of the NBA after his 2010-2011 MVP award and was considered apart of the youth movement that was slowly making its way around the NBA, specifically at the point guard position.  He was subsequently awarded a lifetime shoe deal with Adidas and a max contract extension. However, after Rose tore his ACL in the 2012 playoffs, his career took a turn for the worst.

To date since his injury, Rose has never played a full season in the NBA. His breathtaking agility and athleticism that he relied upon to elevate him to elite status were never the same after his countless knee injuries and after that ACL tear, missing a combined 152 games throughout the rest of his tenure in Chicago.  Rose undoubtedly would have and most likely still would be a perennial MVP candidate and a top-five point guard in the league would he have avoided his major injuries.

Rose is not the only NBA player to have had their promising careers cut short and altered by major injuries.  Grant Hill was tabbed to be one of the best players of all time, but his nagging ankle injury forced him to only suit up for 47 games for the Orlando Magic in his first four seasons with the team upon signing with them in free agency from a successful and promising tenure with the Detroit Pistons.  He went from a constant triple-double threat to a role player with no lag-time in the middle of his NBA career.  While he still carved out a respectable career, one can only imagine what his career would have been had those ankle injuries not arisen.

Tracy McGrady was regarded as one of the best “one-on-one” players in the league during his prime, with his signature moment coming against the San Antonio Spurs while he was with the Houston Rockets when he scored 13 points in the final 35 seconds of the game to complete an epic comeback victory. He had nagging back, shoulder and knee issues that left him with rarely any significant playing time towards the latter part of his career. These injuries kept a great player from being an all-time great, impeding McGrady from ever being able to win an NBA championship.

Brandon Roy, one of my favorite players to watch during his time with the Portland Trailblazers, was forced to retire in his mid 20s due to knee injuries.  Kobe Bryant has said on multiple occasions that he was the toughest assignment to guard on defense throughout his whole career. He, along with Trailblazers teammate Greg Oden make up a couple of the biggest question marks in the history of the NBA.  Roy looked to be a consistent All-Star and Oden was chosen first overall in the 2007 NBA draft, so it must have been heartbreaking for Trailblazers fans to see their players of the future to go down for their entire careers with injury trouble.

There are too many examples of injuries ruining or altering careers.  One can only feel for the players who are affected by them, but as mentioned before, they are an unavoidable aspect of competing at the highest level.

The NBA has experienced a trend of superstars pairing up since the 2010 offseason when LeBron announced that he’d be joining Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade in South Beach. This happened in July, not long after NBA draft concluded, the same draft that saw future NBA stars and college teammates John Wall and DeMarcus cousins were selected number one and five respectively. This draft broke up a collegiate version of the traditional “super team”, sending two players who made up one of the most talented Kentucky basketball teams in years to opposite sides of the country.

Since 2010, both Wall and Cousins have fulfilled their potential, or very close to it, and have become legitimate stars and franchise players in the NBA. Wall has found his groove in the nation’s capitol for the Wizards, where he’s set to lead them to their third playoff appearance in four seasons. Wall has also made the eastern conference All-Star team each of the past four seasons, and has taken his game to another level in 2017.

DeMarcus Cousins was selected by the Sacramento Kings, going out west to begin his career. Cousins began to find his own, despite playing for a struggling Kings team that has failed to make the playoffs in each of the past 11 seasons. However, Cousins will no longer be a part of what has proven to be one of the most poorly-run franchises in the NBA, as he found himself being shipped to New Orleans for next to nothing just before this season’s trade deadline expired. Cousins has been in New Orleans for just almost two months, and has already faced some scrutiny saying that he’s worn out his welcome because the Pelicans haven’t moved up in the standings.

Cousins’ deal doesn’t expire until the end of the 2018 season, but it’s never too early to speculate. Despite the pre-considered notion that it would take time for Pelicans star Anthony Davis to gel with Cousins in the front-court, today’s NBA fans are impatient and like to see immediate results. It’s not a long shot to say he will at least test free agency waters in 2018 once his contract expires. Due to Cousins’ history with John Wall, along with the fact that Wall is one of the only players around the league who can keep Cousins’ wild personality at bay, it is completely possible that Cousins takes his talents to Washington D.C. The only road block one could possibly see is the Wizards’ current center, Marcin Gortat, whose contract runs through the 2019 season. However, he’ll only be owed about $13 million (chump change for the ever-increasing salary cap), which wouldn’t be a difficult contract to move to make way for Cousins.

While this scenario is over a year away, it simply makes sense that Wall and Boogie would want to team up and compete for a title. After all, they have some unfinished business after falling in the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. While a lot can change in the span of over a year, I’d still have to say that the odds of Cousins and Wall playing together are pretty high. If the “fire and ice” experiment in New Orleans works out next season, Cousins may want to resign with the Pelicans, but if Davis and Cousins end up showing bad chemistry, Boogie may very well want to look elsewhere. Washington looks like a team that is one piece away from being a legitimate title contender and Cousins may just be that missing piece.